Quack and Auxiliary Nurses in Nigeria By Nurse Salahudeen Habeeb Damola

Here is our first topic for discussion in year 2018.

Topic: Quacks in Nursing

Anchor: Nrs Salahudeen Habeeb Damola

Date: Monday 8th Jan, 2018

Time: 8pm

Venue: WhatsApp Group

Nrs Salahudeen Habeeb Damola: It’s a privilege to be given an opportunity to discuss an intense topic given that it’s a plague that afflict the nursing profession.

It’s paramount that we nurses educate the public on the dangers of patronizing quacks through community awareness, one-on-one dialogue, media houses, social networks, etc, its high time we take the fight to them and show our society there is no harbour for quackery in the nursing profession.

Don’t you agree?

First…. WHAT IS QUACKERY AND WHO IS QUACK?

Quackery is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices, A quack is a fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skills or a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, qualification or credentials he or she does not possess.

Quackery has no place in the nursing profession theirby no stone should be left unturned until all that venture in quack business are sanctioned and put behind bars

Who is a nurse?:

WHO IS A NURSE YOU MIGHT ASK?

 The answer simply is “A person who has received authorized education, acquired specialized skills and attitudes and is registered and licensed by a regulatory body (in Nigeria, NMCN), to provide promotive , restorative and a rehabilitative care to individuals, families and communities independently and in collaboration with other members of the health team” (NMCN 2009)

How do u identify a quack nurse?:

CHARACTERISTICS OF A QUACK NURSE/MIDWIFE

– Lacks the license to practice as a certified nurse, midwife or public health nurse

– Lack of professional conduct.

– Incompetent to carry basic nursing/midwifery procedures.

– lacks the ability to identify danger signs for admission or referral of the client.

– Poor communication and writing skills.

– Unprofessional appearance

– Nonchalant attitude.

The list is quite endless, So what prompts them into the profession?

CAUSES OF QUACK NURSE/MIDWIFE

– Greed

– Illiteracy

– Poverty

– Poor licensing and renewal strategy

– Poor routine supervision by the NMCN to various health institutions and private sectors.

– Poor penalty for punishment of quacks caught by the NMCN.

– Wrong perception of the general public about nursing profession.

So at the end of the day what are the implications on the profession and the society at large?

EFFECTS OF QUACKERY ON THE NURSING PROFESSION

– It paint a wrong image of the nursing profession in the eyes of the general public.

– it makes the profession lacks integrity, value, and uniqueness.

– The growth of the profession will become stagnant.

EFFECT OF QUACKERY ON THE SOCIETY

– Increase mortality rate

-Increase deformities of body parts

– Wrong diagnosis

– Unnecessary medical expenses.

To mention the least

RECOMMENDATIONS

-The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria should regulate and control the practice of nursing and midwifery in all its ramifications.

– Prosecute illegal training institutions and its trainers.

– NMCN should review its 1000 naira punishment for those caught in quackery.

– Nursing World Nigeria group forum should organize three days campaign on the fight against quackery in the nursing profession through NANNM, media houses, social networks etc.

– NANNM should work in collaboration NMCN to carry out a massive screening of private hospitals across the states.

– More Public enlightenment on who a “quack is” should be sponsored by NANNM.

My recommendations are subject to review though, thank you for this privilege to anchor such a wonderful topic

About the anchor

Nurse Salahudeen Habeeb Damola (RN, RPN, BSC ) is a registered nurse from College of Nursing Maiduguri, who finds solace in working in the humanitarian context and contributing his quota to the nursing profession as a whole.

+234 813 118 3065

REFERENCES;

-Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

-www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

-www.nmcn.gov.ng

3 Questions

1) Does an end to Quackery solve the myriads of nursing problems

2) How can we handle nurses with bad or poor communication skills in writing and speaking as highlighted by you?

3) What do you think makes Quack nursing/midwifery sell more than registered nurses in the private practice in Nigeria and how can it be turned around?

Answers

1. It is one of the biggest problems or challenges nursing is facing at the moment as it gives it a bad or wrong perspective to the general public of what the nursing profession is and what it entails, it might not solve all our problems but its a great start.

2…. Continuous education on proper construction of sentences and English language in general.. ALSO Through learning process…. This does not just end with quacks because lets be frank some registered nurses do lack good communication and writing skills

3. Its very simple “ITS ALL ABOUT CHEAP LABOUR”..  Used mostly by the private sector. It sell more cos the organization won’t have to pay them much as compared to a registered nurse.. And also by implementing a huge fine on any one found guilty of the crime but we have to agree that apart from a few states we truly do not have any major monitoring team. When we have unbiased and non corrupt monitoring team in the nursing space Quackery will be a thing of the past. But again who can guarantee the security of the monitoring teams, most of these auxiliary nurses are girlfriends to cultists and in some cases the doctors (Visit some areas in Ogboni and get a first hand experience if you doubt me) So it takes a strong team of nurses who are not moved by fear or favour to be part of the monitoring team

Next questions are

– who constitutes the monitoring team?

– what law backs the monitoring team?

– Nurses caught teaching auxillary nurses what’s their penalty?

– Doctors caught teaching Auxillary what are their sanctions?

– can they operate at all levels or just only state?